My name is Dave Stancliff. Walk down the road of life with me each day. You'll find news and my views. I'm a Vietnam Veteran, father to three sons, proud grandfather 5 times over, an independent thinker, and a former newspaper publisher and editor.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Why are increasing numbers of Americans renouncing their citizenship?

Good Day World!

Why are more Americans renouncing their U.S. citizenship in the last six years?

The government doesn’t keep track of the reasons citizens give for renouncing their U.S. citizenship. If they have, they haven’t shared them, making it impossible to say for certain what has driven the sharp rise in Americans leaving our shores.

It’s a fact that during the Obama administration the numbers of Americans renouncing their citizenship has sky-rocketed. Are people so prejudice that the idea of an African-American in the Oval Office is sending them overseas?

Not likely. The real reason people are turning their backs on this country is taxes. For decades U.S. citizens have resorted to hiding their wealth overseas without fear of discovery.

That’s changed.

The most likely cause appears to be the Obama-era crackdown on U.S. citizens hiding their wealth overseas.

The rise has coincided with a campaign that has scooped up about $6 billion in taxes, interest and penalties from more than 40,000 U.S. taxpayers since 2009.

It appears to me that the idea of being proud to be an American has shifted in another direction. Once U.S. citizenship was a mark of honor. A coveted title that immigrants from around the world sought.

The new reality – the 21st century version – is a far cry from that. Even presidential candidates have shipped parts of their wealth overseas; take Mitt Romney for example.

The pride that came with being an American has disappeared, replaced with a “me-first” mentality that knows no borders.